Everyone from the new entrant Reliance Jio to the top leader Airtel is gearing up their arsenal for India’s biggest telecom spectrum auction.
Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has published the list of final bidders for the spectrum auction that begins on 1st October 2016. At a glance, Airtel, Vodafone India, Idea Cellular and Reliance Jio can bid for any band in any telecom circle.
First, to the main terminology of the action, the Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) in an auction indicates a company’s strategy to bid in specific spectrum bands and telecom circles. The EMD gives them eligibility points with regard to those circles for bidding for the spectrum.
Bharti Airtel – India’s top telecom operator can bid for any band in any telecom circle. The company have deposited Rs 1,980 crores EMD for the upcoming auction and got 13640 eligibility points.
Vodafone India – The telecom operator is also eligible to bid for any band in any telecom circle. The operator has deposited around Rs 2,740 crores EMD and got 18821 eligibility points.
Idea Cellular – The operator has deposited Rs 2,000 crores in EMD and got 13750 eligibility points. The operator can bid for any band in any telecom circle.
Reliance Jio – The new entrant in the Indian telecom space, has got the highest deposit with Rs 6,500 crores EMD and got the maximum eligibility point of 44506. The operator can bid for any spectrum in any telecom circle.
Tata Teleservices – The operator has a deposit of Rs 1000 crores EMD and got 6919 eligibility points. The operator can bid for all bands in Mumbai & Maharashtra telecom circle. In 800 MHz Band, it can bid in all telecom circles except in Assam & North East telecom circle.
In 900 & 1800 MHz Bands it can bid in all telecom circles except in Assam, Delhi & NE. In 2100 MHz Band, it can bid only in Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, MP, Maharashtra, Mumbai, Punjab, Rajasthan & UP (W) telecom circle. Finally, in 700 / 2300 & 2500 MHz Bands the operator can bid only in Mumbai & Maharashtra telecom circle.
Aircel – The operator who announced a merger with Reliance Communication (RCom) is also bidding in the upcoming auction. The operator has deposited Rs 120 crores EMD and got 792 eligibility points.
In 900 & 1800 MHz Bands, the operator can bid any telecom circle. In 2100 MHz Band, it can bid only in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, J&K, Karnataka, Kerala, Kolkata, NE, Odisha, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh (East) & West Bengal telecom circle.
In 2300 Mhz band, it can bid only in Andhra Pradesh telecom circle. The operators cannot bid for the 700/800 & 2500 MHz bands.
Reliance communications (Rcom) – The operator has deposited Rs 313 crores EMD and got 2158 eligibility points. It can bid for any band in any telecom circle except North East and Assam.
Indian telecom operator Telenor India chose not to participate in the upcoming auction. The government owned telecom operator BSNL will not directly participate in the spectrum auction, but is interested in reserving one block of 5 MHz in the 700 MHz band for pan-India.
If you have missed, the government will put a total of 2,354.55 megahertz (MHz) of spectrum across every band – 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHZ and 2500 MHz. Telecom operators winning the spectrum can use it for high-speed 4G LTE services.
The super premium band in this auction is the 700MHz band, as the cost of providing telecom service in it is almost one-third of 3G service in 2100MHz band.